Conferences, Events and Research Colloquia
Forthcoming Events
Why I Love Old Languages
Lunchtime lecture series, Thursdays, 1pm, Room G102, 21 Woodland Road
Organised by the School of Modern Languages and BIRTHA
9 February 2012
Francoise Le Saux (University of Reading): Why I love MEDIEVAL WELSH
16 February 2012
Sarah Turner (Bristol): Why I love OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC
23 February 2012
Camilla di Biase-Dyson (Humboldt Universität, Berlin): Why I love ANCIENT EGYPTIAN (and COOL HIEROGLYPHS)
1 March 2012
Sheila Watts (Cambridge): Why I love OLD SAXON
8 March 2012
Richard Coates (UWE): Why I love REALLY OLD PLACE NAMES
15 March 2012
Elena Lombardi (Bristol): Why I love MEDIEVAL ITALIAN
All welcome (really!).
For further information, please contact nils.langer@bris.ac.uk
Previous Events
6 December 2011
Christmas lecture: "The Awful German Language" given by Professor Martin Durrell, University of Manchester. 5.15pm in LT3, 17 Woodland Road. There will be a Glühwein reception after the lecture in the School of Modern Languages Common Room in 17 Woodland Road.
23 November 2011
Department of German Colloquium - Perceptual Dialectology and the Division of German(y). Nicole Palliwoda, University of Kiel 2.15pm, Room G66, 15 Woodland Road. All welcome. For further information, contact Nils.Langer@bristol.ac.uk
15 November 2011
Department of German Colloquium - Who was the SED? Members, ideology and party eduction. Dr Mark Allinson, University of Bristol 5.15pm, Room G66, 15 Woodland Road
10 November 2011
German Colloquia
Und die Geschichte wiederholt sich doch:der Pluralapostroph - Prof. Dr. Evelyn Ziegler, Universität Duisburg-Essen
5.15pm, Room G108, 21 Woodland Road. For further information please contact Nils.Langer@bristol.ac.uk
30 September 2011
Linguistic Identities in Bristol workshop series. For further information please contact Nils.Langer@bristol.ac.uk
15- 17 September 2011
Remembering Dictatorship: State-Socialist Pasts in Post-Socialist Presents
Interdisciplinary Symposium
Contact: Sara.Jones@bristol.ac.uk
20-27 August 2011
5th Historical Sociolinguistics Network (HiSoN) Summer School, Lesbos, Greece
March - July 2011
Remembering Dictatorship: State-Socialist Pasts in Post-Socialist Presents
General information about the three Workshops is available.
Workshop 2: What do we remember? Wednesday 25 May 2011, 2 - 5 pm
Workshop 3: When do we remember? July 2011 (date tbc)
Interdisciplinary Symposium 16-17 September 2011- Call for papers
Contact: Sara.Jones@bristol.ac.uk
18 March 2011
Sponsor a lecturer fundraising in aid of Comic Relief.
16 March 2011
Remembering Dictatorship: State-Socialist Pasts in Post-Socialist Presents
Workshop 1 - How do we remember?
Time and Location: 2-5pm, room to be confirmed
Confirmed speakers Dr Debbie Pinfold (German), Dr Josie McLellan (History) and Ms Katharina Buck (Sociology, Politics and International Studies)
Contact: Sara.Jones@bristol.ac.uk
2-3 March 2011
German Play - 'The Catholic Circus' by Francesca Hedges to be performed at Clifton High School at 7.30pm. Review and photos available.
6 December 2010
5.15pm, LR8 21 Woodland Road
Annual Christmas Lecture: 'Radical Rococo' Dr Kevin Hilliard, St Peter's College, Oxford
Rococo is an eighteenth-century style with a reputation for a certain kind of frivolous elegance.
That reputation is not undeserved. But as Oscar Wilde might have said, there is nothing more serious than frivolity. Dr Hilliard will show that at least some manifestations of Rococo can be traced back to a committed Epicureanism. This would bring these aspects of Rococo into an alignment with the tendencies of the radical Enlightenment. Two examples will illustrate this claim: the culture of Frederick the Great's court, and the writings of the poet Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim and his circle.
There will be a Glühwein reception after the lecture in the School of Modern Languages Common Room in 17 Woodland Road
13 October 2010
Twilight Talk - 20 years on - What does German unity mean to me?
Report on the talk by Matthew Linehan
23 June 2010
Writing Lives, Writing Histories
"Dark" Biography: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
22-23 March 2010
AHRC-funded workshop 'After the Wall: Recalling the GDR Dictatorship' at Burwalls.
February 2010
German Play: "Glaube, Liebe, Hoffnung" by Ödön von Horvath
Performed at Clifton High School on 24 and 25 February 2010.
A report and photographs from the play are available plus the promotional leaflet.
Fall of the Wall - 9 November 2009
Film screening: My DDR T-shirt followed by a panel discussion at 5.15pm in LT2, 11 Woodland Road.
An Introduction to Old Languages
Further information about this lunchtime lecture series is available.
Vortrag in der Germanistik
17 November 2009 at 5.15pm in LR8, 21 Woodland Road
Prof. Ludwig Eichinger
Director, Institute für deutsche Sprache (Mannheim)
What's the point of Linguistic Variation? - The Case of German
German is a classical case of a pluricentric language: there is no single centre which provides orientation for everything. The Standard German which is learned as a foreign language is also the result of a compromise written form. In many places the spoken language was very different for a long time. Traces of this still affect the everyday use of language in the German-speaking countries. Especially when people are aiming at a relaxed style of language, they use expressions which have little to do with the Standard German which is taught and learned. It is not necessary to know every detail of this when using German colloquial language, but some knowledge is necessary. Furthermore, there is hope for learners of German as a foreign language: relaxed style and Standard German are becoming closer.
ALL WELCOME
For further information, contact nils.langer@bris.ac.uk
Podcasts and videos
9 November 2010: Podcasts on 20 years of German unification available in English and German (mp3 files)
17 June 2011: Katastrophenkaffeewerbung (mp4 file)- short film produced by German first year students in their language classes.
Please note this film requires the Flash player plugin. If you experience problems accessing any of the content on this page, please contact sml-office@bristol.ac.uk.
Research colloquia
Visit the research colloquia pages
Recent Christmas Lectures
- 2011 Professor Martin Durrell, University of Manchester
- 2010 Dr Kevin Hilliard, University of Oxford
- 2009 Derek Scally, Berlin-correspondent for the Irish Times
- 2008 Professor T J Reed, University of Oxford
- 2007 Professor Patrick Stevenson, Southampton
- 2006 Professor Mary Fulbrook University College London
- 2005 Professor Elizabeth Boa, University of Nottingham
- 2004 Professor Martin Swales, University College London
- 2003 Professor J.M. Ritchie, University of Aberdeen
Conferences at Bristol in the past
1st HISON Summer School in Historical Sociolinguistics, 16-23 August 2007
2nd HISON Summer School in Historical Sociolinguistics, 7-13 August 2008
HiSoN conference on Language and History, Linguistics and Historiography, 2-4 April 2009
LXXth. Conference of the University Teachers of German, 2-4 April 2007
Medea: Mutations and Permutations of a Myth, July 2006
Workshop
The Lisbon Earthquake and Tsunami - An interdisciplinary workshop, 28-29 October 2005
Writer in Residence
Angela Krauß, 2005, DAAD-sponsored Writer in Residence
Tanja Dueckert, 2006, DAAD-sponsored Writer in Residence